Retail crime “spiralling out of control”
The British Retail Consortium has warned that retail crime is at its highest level on record as it publishes the results of its annual crime survey.
The figures show that incidents of violence and abuse in 2023/24 rose to over 2,000 per day from 1,300 in the prior year. Incidents included racial or sexual abuse, physical assault or threats with weapons.
Meanwhile, 70 incidents per day involved a weapon, more than double the previous year.
Theft climbed to an all-time high in the period with over 20 million incidents (over 55,000 per day). This cost retailers £2.2 billion in 2023/24 compared to £1.8 billion the previous year as many more incidents were linked to organised crime.
Never Miss a Retail Update!The BRC found that satisfaction with the police remains low, with 61% of respondents describing the police response to incidents as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. Of the remaining, 29% rated the response as ‘fair’, a further 6% said good, and 3% described it as ‘excellent’, the first time in five years that any retailers rated it as such.
Unsurprisingly, the BRC also found that retailers are spending more than ever on crime prevention measures with the total reaching £1.8 billion in the period. These included measures such as CCTV, more security personnel, anti-theft devices and body worn cameras.
The Labour Government has pledged to address the rise in retail crime through stronger measures to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour, including removing the £200 threshold of ‘low level’ theft. It also announced in the King’s Speech that it would introduce a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Retail crime is spiralling out of control. People in retail have been spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes. Every day this continues, criminals are getting bolder and more aggressive. We owe it to the three million hardworking people working in retail to bring the epidemic of crime to heel. No one should go to work in fear.
“With little faith in police attendance, it is no wonder criminals feel they have licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse. Retailers are spending more than ever before, but they cannot prevent crime alone. We need the police to respond to and handle every reported incident appropriately. We look forward to seeing crucial legislation to protect retail workers being put in place later this year. Only if the industry, Government and police work together, can we finally see this awful trend reverse.”
Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of retail industry charity the Retail Trust, added: “Retailers are taking the threat to their staff’s physical safety extremely seriously and more and more of them are working with the Retail Trust to reduce the terrible toll it is having on their people’s mental wellbeing. But stronger measures are clearly needed to prevent this criminal behaviour from happening in the first place.”
